September 2008

September 30, 2008

My mom & sister are always clipping out Baby Blues for me. Evidently my life parallels the comics. I'm not sure how, but these guys know exactly how I'm feeling sometimes! The Hi & Lois was a bonus one they clipped for me this week. Scary, but true.

September 29, 2008

So these are a few 12x12 layouts I did forever ago & finally got around to taking pics of. The top one are pictures my sister Carol took of the kids last summer & are truly some of my very favorites.... I love the expressions on their faces! The second one are pictures a friend took of Lydie for her first birthday, she just opened her own studio in Mt. Pleasant at the beginning of the year. She took several portraits of the boys when they were babies, we just love her! I brought the antique blue chair & the gerbera daisy along for the shoot.... so cute. If you're interested here's Amy's website here.

September 28, 2008

Last night we took the kids to a local park to burn some energy. Lydie squealed w/ excitement when Dan was getting her out of the truck. They had a great time. The boys had gone Friday after school to camp with G&G Klesner. When we picked them up yesterday afternoon, they weren't too thrilled with us, but I think G&G had had enough! Today they'll get to play at another park with their friends from school while we check out the St. John's Harvest Festival in Houghton. This is the first of the church sales around our communities that help to support our Catholic school. The dinner is always yummy & it's fun to see what items are there to be auctioned off & see some friends we don't get to see too often.

September 25, 2008

I was going through my new Parents magazine last night & noticed a really cute wreath they had made w/ a orange & black feather boa & googly eyes. I think i'll have to try to make it. I also found this super cute costume idea for Lydie on their website lamb costume... thought it could also be made into a cute little poodle w/ pink pom poms. Think it looks easy enough!

I've been collecting in my head lately some things that really strike me, things we're enjoying right now...

*Lydie feeding herself. For the most part, she is an independent little lady. She would rather feed herself that anyone help her, including messy stuff, like yogurt {see above}. Many times when she finishes, she decides to paint her tray & sometimes add style to her hair.

*Evan's funny takes on everyday things. While he's at school, he's often quiet & he really does alot of observing. This makes for some interesting questions, comments, when he gets home.

*How they all interact with each other when they see each other at the end of their days. Collin & Evan often don't see each other after they get to school in the morning & Lydie doesn't see them all day. When she sees those boys, she has a special little yell she does for them & is often ready to play.

*Brotherly love? Well, we've had our share of fights between the boys over the last year, but sometimes they surprise me. Collin came home upset the other day, one of his friends had gotten rough with him & made fun of him & he also was doing the same to Evan. He told me he was trying to get to Evan to help him, but they were trying to keep him away. I was so proud of him, so even if we have doubts & he doesn't want to admit it, he really does love his brother!

*Faith. I grew up in a Catholic family & while attending Catholic school, remember all the lessons we learned in school. Now, the boys are bringing that all back to me. It's good to revisit everything I've forgotten & to help the boys learn what's really important in life.

*Fall. Cool mornings, cooler days, new clothes, making oatmeal in the morning & of course, coffee just tastes better in the cooler weather.

*Lydia's little voice. She really loves to try to repeat words right now. Sometimes we can tell exactly what she's saying & others, well.... It's fun to hear her vocabulary growing. Since Evan talked so late, we're a little mesmerized with all her words.

*Little friends. Lydia goes to the babysitter 4 days a week & since she goes with 3 other girls roughly the same age as her, she has fun with her little friends. Last night when I picked her up, I told her to give her friend Kody {who is only a few days older} a hug & kiss goodbye. They both readily complied & I so wish I had a camera. So cute. The boys didn't go to a sitter when they were this young, so they didn't have the opportunity to have little friends their age until they were school age.

Well, the other day I mentioned Dan's dad was having a procedure done on his heart. Evidently, when they got in there, they couldn't get done what they wanted & saw some other things that they decided needed more testing, so they stopped where they were. Yesterday they did more tests & have decided early next week he needs to have a valved replaced/repaired to his heart & possibly some other work. They think he'll do just fine, since otherwise he is in good health. I think he's relieved to know what's wrong & that they have a plan to fix it. Hopefully we'll get up to visit him over the weekend. Lucky him, he got to see his new granddaughter Ashlyn for the first time the other day! Dan says she's changing alot. Keep Joe in your prayers... we appreciate your thoughts!

September 23, 2008

Just heard from Dan that his dad is going in for a procedure on his heart this afternoon. Since falling about a week & a half ago he's undergone some tests & yesterday before he got the chance to do a stress test, his heart rate went a little crazy, reaching almost 200bpm. {Apparently this is what has been happening for a few weeks, but he didn't know how to explain it}. They immediately sent him by ambulance to IC & after monitoring him yesterday & overnight, they did some tests this morning & apparently found something that needs to be mended. So, all & any prayers sent his way would be much appreciated. I'll let you know how it goes.....

September 18, 2008

We noticed while we were out on our porch last night that there were some monarch butterflies fluttering around & while I was showing Lydia, I looked closer & noticed there were loads of them in our trees out front. I think there were at least 30 of them clustered together.... it was really amazing. I've never seen so many at one time. Evan just read a book on butterflies & I didn't realize that they migrate south for the winter like birds do, so we're wondering if that is what they were doing. Nature is so cool, isn't it?

Over the weekend we had a little excitement with Dan's dad. Unfortunately with all the rain we had at the end of the week, alot of people had water in their basements, including Dan's parents. Joe & Bev were working in their basement, trying to move things up & Joe wasn't feeling well. When he was at the top of the steps, he fainted, tumbled down the steps & hit his head on a desk & knocked him out. He spent the weekend in the hospital & they are still trying to figure out why he fainted. I think next week he has some tests with the cardiologist, so keep him in your prayers, please. Feel better & take it easy GPa Joe!

OK, so I'm a few days late on this, but thought I'd bring everyone up to date on Lydie @ 18 months. She had her checkup on Tuesday & received rave reviews! Our doctor is close to our hearts.... we always enjoy seeing Dr. Situmeang & his nurse, Christie. They are almost as excited as we are that we finally had a little girl! Dr. Situ also has a girl named Lydia in his clan of 9 kids. Lydia is now 24 1/2 lbs & is 32 inches tall! Puts her at about 50th % for both. She is practicing doing alot of "mommy" things, like helping fold laundry, playing with her play kitchen, food & teaset, sweeping & putting things away. She is also a girl in constant motion, as seen in the photo above.... this one portrays her perfectly. Lydie is also throwing tantrums, which is always frustrating, but I just lay her carefully on the floor, so she doesn't hit her head, & let her go at it. She's trying to say alot of words as well. Mommy, Daddy, guys or boys (collin & evan), hey, hi, up, no, done, hot, cheese, yum, yes, Lydie, cat, dog, go, Lacey (aunt Kim's dog). I'm sure there are more I'm not thinking of, but it seems that if we try to get her to say it she will try it at least once. So that's all I can think of for the Lydie update, more later!